Skating Through It (2011 Video) User Reviews

The perfect documentary for anyone looking for inspiration.

[bill-2235 · 9/10 · 4 February 2013]

"Skating Through It" is both engaging and heartfelt. At first it seems to be a sports documentary. Soon, though, you realize you are watching a study of emotional reliance and survival. To some, adult competitive figure skating might seem pretty esoteric. Yet these people literally skate to live. And their family, friends and loved ones wouldn't have it any other way.

Part of what surprised me was the ability of the three individuals profiled to integrate all the rigors of competitive sports with vibrant professional and personal lives. They are not simply skaters, but have lives filled with both work and personal obligations. I don't know how they do it! The perfect documentary for anyone looking for inspiration.

A fascinating documentary about a courageous group of toiling athletes

[djf-19 · 9/10 · 12 February 2013]

"Skating Through It!" is a well-structured, tightly-woven, and incredibly fascinating portrait about a group of courageous athletes in a little-known world: former, professional and wannabee teenage figure skaters who — now, as adults — travel an 'adult competitive figure skating' circuit for a second-chance at glory, prizes and self-esteem. Each character is extremely well-drawn by the filmmaker, with some of the stories particularly moving (the cancer survivor, a pediatrician, a flight attendant, et al). The film follows what seems at first to be the familiar tropes of the sports documentary. But it gradually shifts on the viewer, becoming a series of portraits in courage, dramatizing the possibility of a 'Second Act' in American life. This shift from the particular to the general brings out inspirational qualities in each story: and the cumulative effect of the film as a whole is a highly inspirational one indeed. I recommend the film more as an inspirational film about courage, than as a 'sports film' per se. ********* (nine stars)